Darker than A Certain Shade of BLACK
by Flek Siner
Summary: Hell's Gate looms over Academy City. It's otherworldly influence affects the lives of its inhabitants; with Touma Kamijou at the forefront.
1. Chapter 1

The sidewalks of Academy City were busy with activity. A population of almost entirely students clogged the streets; all of them trying to get home after a long day of learning and testing. The blazing sun shined overhead, threatening to melt the commuters who trudged their ways down the boiling sidewalks.

On one certain sidewalk a young boy, maybe fifteen at the most, was dragging his feet over the hot concrete. This boy was Touma Kamijou, often said to be the unluckiest person in Academy City. His white, school shirt was almost translucent from his sweat. His orange undershirt clung to slight frame like a second skin. A look of anguish marked the boy's face.

Touma had been through quite a bit that day. Late to school on account of a malfunctioning alarm clock. A lecture from Komoe-sensei because he forgot to do an assignment, which then caused the entirety of his class to glare at him for the rest of the day. And because of said missed assignment, Touma, now had to go to a special class with Ms. Komoe to fully understand the homework he had neglected to do.

Touma noticed another student next to him; a middle school student. A young girl he had, had a few meetings with before. Mikoto Misaka, one of the seven level 5 Espers in Academy City. More specifically she was the third strongest level 5, and for some reason she had targeted him, a simple level 0, as her quarry. Touma tried to avert his eyes from the girl. He didn't want her noticing him. An altercation with her was not something he wanted to add to the day's list of achievements.

"Are you going to keep ignoring me, or what?" Touma heard a feminine voice next to him. Touma wasn't the best at sneaking around people; even in large crowds.

"Oh look who it is," Touma said with no enthusiasm in his voice, "Little Miss Zapper here to brighten my day."

"I told you not to call me that!" she screamed in ear. Touma felt a small electrical discharge hit his ear.

"Jeeze! Calm down, will you! You don't want to fry everyone here do you?"

Mikoto looked down with a slight blush and then returned with more fervor, "Well… I wouldn't have done it if you had remembered my name. How many times have met before this? You should know it by now!" Other students on the sidewalk were starting to back away from the arguing pair.

Touma sighed, "Listen, did you want something? I've had a long day, and I don't want any trouble."

"I don't cause you trouble!"

"Yes you do," Touma said in a matter of fact kind of way, "I distinctly remember you trying to fry me like a bug just two weeks ago."

"Well… well, Misaka stuttered, "Shut up! I want to fight again! I know I can beat you this time. I've got it perfectly figured out!"

"Denied."

"What!"

"I told you, I'm tired. Fight someone else. Look," Touma said, pointing his finger. "A vending machine. I know you love sparring with them."

An even bigger blush covered Misaka's face, turning it almost tomato red.

"Jus- Just die you jerk!" the angry electro-master yelled as she unleashed a charge of electricity towards the boy.

Touma's eyes widened at the attack. He jumped back a few steps and shot out his right hand to intercept the attack. The arcs of energy impacted his palm and suddenly disappeared with a loud cracking sound.

"What did I just say about frying me Zapper!?" Touma was only responded by another shot of electricity. Touma simply dodged that attack and let it hit a brick building next to him.

"Oh forget this!" Touma yelled. He picked up his feet and started to run in the direction of his apartment. Being tired and sweaty was a large consolation to being electrocuted by her.

"Hey! Get back here!" Misaka yelled, as she started to chase after him.

"Such misfortune," Touma muttered as he ran.

Touma eventually made his way to the street his dorm building was on. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd had to run that fast for that long. He was kneeled over by the side of his building, his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. It had taken quite a while for Touma to make it back to his home; the sun had begun to set, revealing the eerie purple sky.

Touma lifted his head looked west. The monolithic wall was always a sight to behold for Touma. He remembered when they started construction on it. That's all the people on television and the newspapers could talk about for months.

Hell's Gate had opened up a few months after Academy City had opened itself up to students. A meteor had hit the earth, destroying several city blocks on impact. A lot of people liked to say that the meteor was the harbinger for the Gate. He remembered his parents talking about it in hushed whispers around the house. They didn't want him to worry about the world at large when he was so young.

As the sky darkened, Touma could see the false stars that the Gate had replaced the originals with. The Gate had taken the sky along with a third of Tokyo when it ripped itself open. The wall was built soon after The Gate's anomalous properties were witnessed in action. A news broadcast that was filmed from inside the Gate's interior revealed how awful it was in there. The team they sent in to study the Gate was wiped out in almost ten minutes by some unknown force.

Since then they haven't revealed much about the Gate's true nature to the public; even to the residents of the city that was sitting right next to it. With no actual information coming through, people started to talk amongst themselves about what the Gate was doing. Rumors spread of people affected by the Gate popped up like wildfire. People with special abilities, similar to Espers, who didn't need to go through the Power Curriculum Program. The rumors stated that these people traded their souls to the Gate; they lost all emotion and ability to care about anyone but themselves in return for dark gifts.

"Pff! Yeah right," Touma mumbled to himself. Something like that was as a ridiculous as the idea of magic spells and fairies existing. Touma stopped himself at that thought. He looked at his right hand and wondered.

He remembered all of the times the researchers and teachers had said he was a level 0 Esper without any kind of AIM field what so ever. Yet his right hand could still stop the use of any anomalous effect it came into contact with. If his Imagine Breaker could exist, maybe a non-Esper with extra-normal abilities could exist too. Maybe that's what he was. One of the people affected by Hell's Gate.

Shaking himself out of his funk, Touma continued on his way home.

"Oh well. It doesn't matter anyway."

Touma changed his clothes from his school uniform to a striped t-shirt and a comfortable pair of black of shorts. As he hung up his uniform for the next day of school, Touma slipped and fell onto the coffee table in the middle of the room. Said coffee table was holding the only food Touma had in his room at the time. His body crushed the plate of vegetables and meats he was going to eat and covered his fresh shirt with grime.

"Such misfortune," Touma mumbled as he pulled himself back up. The food was completely ruined, the plate was cracked, and his shirt now reeked of old lettuce. He gathered up the mess of food mush and broken plate and dropped it into the garbage can in his small kitchen.

After wiping his hands clean of the muck, Touma opened his refrigerator. Just as suspected, empty. The only thing that resided in the ice-box was a few bottles of water and an old box of take-out he wasn't brave enough to touch, let alone, throw out yet.

Touma closed the fridge disdainfully and tried to think of a backup plan. His bank account was practically empty, and his allowance from his parents wasn't due for a few days. Furrowing his brow, Touma, walked over to his bed and dropped to his knees. He hadn't had to resort to these efforts in quite some time. The last time being when he cracked his cash card under his unknowing feet a few months prior… again.

He stuck his hands beneath the mattress and began to dig around for loose change. Touma hated digging around his house like this. It made him feel like a raccoon or some other kind of vermin. After a minute or two of searching he found only dust and a work booklet for school under the beddings.

"That's where you were," Touma said to the math workbook with a sigh.

He laid the book down and moved his searching to other parts of his room. He dug in his school bag, under his sink, in the bathroom, and even on the balcony. Money had a tendency to fall from his pockets when he had it, so the occasional coin search every now and then could be a lucrative endeavor.

He stopped his search after finding nothing but a 100 yen coin sitting on the railing of his balcony. He looked at the coin and frowned.

"This sucks," he said to the coin. Maybe if he insulted the currency it would turn into a larger denomination, "This won't even feed me for tonight!"

He groaned loudly and put on his shoes. He guessed something a 100 yen bought at a convenience store was going to have to do. He's never heard of making a cup of ramen or a bag of chips last three days before, but he guessed there was always going to be a first for everything.

Touma dug his feet down the dark street towards the convenience store. There weren't very many active street lights on at the moment. Hell's Gate effected the sky in strange ways; including messing with the lights of the sky. The false stars that it presented gave off a dull glow that had a tendency to fool the automated street lights into thinking the sun wasn't down. His travel was only made better by the sun being taken away by the artificial night sky.

Shaking his head from the previous events from today, Touma did his best to put a spring in his step.

"My future might be dark and gloomy, but at least it's a nice, cool night."

As Touma spoke aloud to himself he rounded the street corner to get to the corner store. He turned and found himself next to a building with an open door. It looked like any other building in the city. One of those non-descript kind of structures that was ignored by the populace. People could live in it. Work in it. Or both. If the door wasn't open, Touma would have ignored it just as he had the rest of the street's buildings.

The door was swinging ajar, as if someone had slammed through it and ran right on through. At the foot of the doorway was an extremely large suitcase. A large, black thing covered in leather straps and clamps. Touma thought it looked like something he'd see one of the lab coat wearing researchers carrying around.

It was laying on its side, half way out the door. Touma moved up to the doorway and looked into the shadowy building. He didn't hear any noise coming from inside the apartment. He poked his spiky haired head through the door.

"Hello?" he called out, "Is everything alright? I just noticed your door was open? Is anybody in there?" He was only answered by the sound of cars in the distance of the city.

Touma grabbed the handle of the suitcase and began to drag it back into the actual building. Touma wasn't one to just take something from a home left open to the world, but if the suit case was important to someone he should at least move back to the inside of the building. The suit case was heavy and felt dense.

"Whatever's in this thing better be important," Touma grunted as he moved the heavy case, "This thing's heavier than a ton of bricks."

He dropped it on the incline of the doorway inside of the building. Turning his head to the side, Touma stared down the long corridor into the rest of the building. Being inside the building didn't help identify its overall purpose. The hallway he looked down was long and ill lit. He could make out a few doors to the side and maybe a set of stairs, but no pictures or signs to show what this building was for.

Touma picked himself up from the floor and started to walk back out the door. In his predictable nature, Touma tripped over the suit case he had just moved and fell back onto the ground.

"Such misfortune."

A soft noise sounded after Touma's typical complaint. It almost sounded like a groan. Touma looked around the room once more and called out, "Is anyone there? Hello?"

Another groan was whispered out. Touma searched around the area near the doorway. He looked outside, but was met with nothing. Looking back inside he noticed that the sounds seemed to be coming from below him, near the ground. Touma turned his head around in circles looking for the owner of the groaning whisper.

Touma stopped his turning at the sight of the suit case. Dropping to his knee, Touma put his ear to the large carrier. The metal of the case was cold to his skin, and the ridges on the exterior scratched at his face. He heard the groan again as he placed his head on the case.

Touma jumped from the case with a start.

"What in the…" Touma looked at the case in confusion, "Is this like a fancy cat carrier?"

He picked and prodded at the case, feeling around the exterior of the object. His fingers ran over an opening on the back of the case. Lifting the case up to be standing, Touma looked on the other side of the case to see a pair of openings in the case. Two bits of machinery were housed within them. One resembled an air purifier or filter; Touma thought it looked like something from a refrigerator or an air conditioning unit. The second looked like a bottle with a series of tubes running into it. The bottle looked to be filled with a thick blue liquid that sloshed around when he moved the case.

Touma placed the case back onto its side softly, not wanting to hurt whatever was inside. He looked for any kind of clasp or lock on the case. He saw something that looked almost like a lock. A large circular disc set squarely in the middle of the very thin seam in the case; it was right below the handle.

Touma looked at the disc for a few moments. It was gave him a strange feeling the longer he stared at it. It had a brownish, gold sheen to it. It was almost completely translucent, with only a few imperfections marking it. The feeling he got reminded him of the stars. They made him antsy, almost like he was being stared at by the unnatural lights. The disc gave off that same kind of light.

He touched his hand to the disc. A familiar cracking sound was heard, and an actual crack appeared in the middle of the disc. A moment later it cracked again, and again, until it finally shattered into a fine dust that fell onto the case.

Touma was shocked. What was that disc made of? The only thing his hand ever effected was Esper abilities, not technology. Was it made from an ability? Before any more thoughts could cross his mind an emotionless voice came from the case.

_"Warning. Restraining device has been removed. Please return the restraining device or risk contamination," _the feminine, computerized voice stated.

Touma backed up a step. What was this thing? Why was contamination a risk? Touma heard an almost inaudible clicking sound come from the case. He could see the case open ever so slightly. He gulped and opened the case the rest of the way.

Touma stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what was inside.

A person was wrapped in a strapped suit, a strait jacket if Touma guessed right. The person looked to be female, and quite thin. She had a bright red shock of hair that spiked in all directions, much like his own. The lower part of her face was covered by a mouth piece that looked like something from a movie Touma had seen once before.

"What the hell!" Touma was shocked. The last thing he was expecting was a person. A vial of highly toxic chemicals or some kind of experimental Esper attachment maybe, but not this. Touma had heard rumors of human trafficking, but he didn't think they were true.

Touma pulled at the woman in the case to get her free.

"Don't worry miss, I'll get you out," Touma said trying to console the woman, "I'll get you to a hospital and make sure you get some help." Touma noticed how light the woman was as he undid her straps and mask. She couldn't even way forty kilos. He heard a raspy voice as he took off her mask.

"Run," she whispered.

"What, why? I'm not going to leave you here."

"Run… please."

"You're not making any sense. Why should I run?"

Her slender finger pointed toward the doorway behind Touma.

"Him."

Touma turned and saw a tall man dressed in black standing behind him. A long coat covered his form and a white mask hid his features.

"Oh. Him."


	2. Chapter 2

"Uh… Hi," Touma said to the man in front of him. There were several times when Touma wished that talking could be the solution to his problems. People would listen to him while he explained why he was doing something that they thought was worthy of a punch to the face. He could say his piece. His side of the story, before they started beating the Hell out of him.

Once again, talking was off the table. The man rushed towards Touma with a leap. The boy grabbed for the woman in the case. Her small form didn't retaliate as he took her into his arms; he once again felt how light she was.

Touma dove over the metal case and kicked out with his foot. The case slid across the floor and directly into the man's path. Touma ran down the hallway with looking back. Surprisingly, Touma heard the man trip from behind him. He had figured the guy to be some kind of ninja from all the black and the mask he was wearing.

Looking over his shoulder, Touma saw that the case had barely impeded the man's stride. The white mask became much more frightening to as the man sprinted towards Touma. The frantic youth saw a door at the end of the hallway. He held the woman in his arms a little tighter and shouldered the door open.

He had to stop himself from running into a fence when the door broke open. He turned quickly to the left and started to run into the street. It was a straight shot with no impediments. Touma only hoped he could run fast enough to get to the empty street.

Touma pumped his legs as hard as he could and felt the shift from sidewalk to pavement as he ran onto the street. The street was still dark. The street lights were only now starting to turn themselves on. Touma saw the masked man in a reflection from a storefront window. He was right behind him, only a meter or two back.

Panicking, Touma ran into an adjacent alleyway and continued his escape. He kicked over two trashcans as he ran and didn't look back. He swerved around a few piles of junk and a dumpster to get into another alley. He could hear the man stomping behind him.

Touma heard an electronic whirring and felt something wrap around his legs. His legs collided and toppled Touma onto the ground. The red haired woman flew from his arms onto the ground. Before he could try and move, a boot stamped onto Touma's back with a painful crack. The booted foot flipped Touma roughly onto his back and revealed the masked man standing over him.

The man stepped on his chest and held down. The assailant bent down and looked at Touma for a few moments.

"You shouldn't have run," a gravelly voice came from behind the mask. Touma was surprised the man spoke. The masked man didn't look like the talking type. Being stabbed in the chest would have been more likely in the spiky haired boys mind.

"What'd you expect me to do, let you… uh… do whatever you were going to do?" Touma wished he was better at comebacks. A realization hit Touma at that moment. He wasn't actually sure what the man was trying to do. He just showed up and Touma decided to run off with the woman he'd just pulled from a suitcase. Maybe he was a little rash.

_"But he's wearing that scary mask, and all of the black cloths. Who just goes around in that around the town?" _Touma thought, _"Besides he chased me. And he might have shoved that woman in a briefcase." _Touma looked at his feet, _"He also just tied me up. Yep can't be good."_

The man looked at him quizzically. Well as quizzically as you could be when you were wearing an expressionless mask. The man had expected fear or begging; instead he got poorly worded defiance.

The assailant noticed the woman trying to crawl away. He stepped over Touma and kicked her in the side. He couldn't have her running away. She couldn't get far in her condition, but he didn't want to take any chances.

"Hey!" Touma yelled. The man didn't pay him any mind. A zip tie came from the man's coat. He tied her arms and legs to where she'd have to act like a worm to move anywhere.

As the dark man tied, Touma looked around. Only Touma's legs were knotted up in the cord. His arms were free. He looked for some kind of weapon. A trashcan lid wasn't too far off from his current position. Touma pulled himself as quietly as he could over to the metal lid. The sound of scraping of the rough ground beneath him gave him away.

Another kick to the gut knocked the wind out of him. The man kicked him once more back onto his back and then dropped to kneeling position over him. The man's hand shot out and gripped Touma's face like a baseball. A blue, luminescent glow surrounded the man. Touma grabbed at the man to try and stop whatever he was doing.

A sharp crack sounded at Touma's wild grab at the man's arms. The blue glow immediately disappeared from the man's body. The hand on Touma's face receded quickly. The man looked at his hand for a moment and then to Touma.

_"What happened? He should be dead," _the thought raced through assailant's mind.

Touma took the confusion in stride and grabbed at the trashcan lid once more. He flung the lid at the man's head and smashed it against the mask. The man reeled back from the hit. Touma, using all of his strength, pushed himself up and then socked the man in his crotch. No sound came from the man as he dropped to a knee.

Touma pulled at the cord around his legs. He tugged and ripped at the entrapping line until he got his right leg free. The spiky haired teen stood up into a standing position. He saw the long cord connecting to the, now reeling, masked man's belt. Touma pulled on the line with all of his strength.

The masked man was pulled harshly towards Touma; a soft grunt came from behind the mask. Touma moved out of the way of the masked attacker as he tripped towards him. As the man went past him, Touma looked for another weapon around him. A few loose bricks were stacked around a garbage can, along with an empty bottle.

Touma decided on the brick. He had to move quickly. A crotch shot would only put someone down for so long. He grabbed the brick and chucked it in front of him, not having the time to aim. The building material crashed against the man's chest, breaking apart on impact. Touma picked up and lobbed another brick at the man; then another, and another.

The man grunted at each impact from the unused bricks. He moved out of the way of the third flying shape, but was hit squarely on the top of his head by the forth. The masked man's vision grew blurry.

Touma saw the man moving sluggishly from side to side. He had him! Touma grabbed the last bit of defense near him, the bottle, and ran up on the man. He smashed the empty liquor container on the unprotected side of the man's head. The glass shattered against his skull. The attacker's form wavered for a moment and then collapsed onto the cold pavement.

A deep sigh of relief fell from Touma's breath. "I almost died right there." Touma's legs gave out from under him, dropping him next to the masked man's limp form. "I almost died. You almost killed me," Touma said, kicking the man's unmoving body.

Touma looked into the sky again. He saw one of the fake stars above him, shining brightly. It was a pretty color, possibly blue, maybe purple. He couldn't tell. It glowed brightly for another few seconds before becoming dimmer and blending back in with the rest of the celestial bodies.

As he sat, Touma remembered why he just got into a back alley brawl. He clambered up to his feet with the help of some of the bricks on the building next to him. He ran over a few meters to the tied up woman. Her eyes were opening and closing rapidly. She was only barely hanging onto her consciousness.

"Oh my God," Touma mumbled, "Don't worry, miss, I'll get you to a hospital in no time flat."

"No! No hospital!" the woman sputtered at Touma. She managed to push herself up with her hand and looked into Touma's eyes. "No hospitals. Please." The battered woman's mind gave out with her order. She was dead to the world. Touma caught the woman in his arms before she could hit the ground.

"No hospitals, huh? That's just my luck, aint it?"

A jostled step woke up the woman. She was being carried, almost like a bride, in a pair of slightly muscled arms. She looked up and saw a blurry image of a male face with black hair.

"Hei?" she mumbled. Touma looked down and smiled at her.

"Hm? You awake?"

"Wh-Where am I?" the woman asked.

"My apartment – Well the street my apartment's on." Touma motioned to a building they were walking next to. It was a normal looking building. It wasn't the ritziest of places, but it had its charm.

"Why?" the woman asked in a groggy tone.

"Why what?"

"Why here. Isn't there a more secure area?"

"Uh…" Touma said with an odd look. "Not really. You said no hospitals, so this is really the only place to go. Once I get you inside, I'm going to try and get you fixed up. I saw that you had some nasty bruises on you." Touma walked over to the front entrance of the dorm building and stopped. He peeked inside and did a quick once over of the room. It was empty.

"Sorry, just making sure nobody's there," he said to the woman, "Don't want anyone getting the wrong idea, you know?" He picked up his pace and walked into the dorm. He trotted up the stairs at brisk pace, causing the woman's head to jerk uncomfortably. The woman made a small groan in response.

"Oh sorry," Touma said, slowing down.

After a few flights of stairs, Touma made it up to his floor. He carried the woman to his door and, with a little finagling, got the door open with the woman still in his hands. As soon as he got her inside he rushed over to the bed. He carefully placed her on the mattress and covered her in a blanket; she was only wearing a very thin nightgown.

Touma sat himself down next to the bed. He was so tired. His stomach grumbled for nourishment. That was going to have to wait. He closed his eyes and sighed. His thoughts on the day swirled in his head. Running from Zapper. Scrounging for money like a bum. Finding a woman in a briefcase. Fighting a whack-job wearing a Halloween mask. His mind drifted with on the thoughts of the next day. And what he was going to do with the woman on sleeping in his bed.


End file.
